In June, the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) starts its first revision cycle of NFPA 652, the organization’s newly introduced combustible dust standard for general industry. Later this fall, the US Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is preparing to hold a panel examining impacts of a proposed OSHA
combustible dust standard on small businesses – the first major event in its combustible dust rulemaking process to be scheduled since 2010.

This year, the level of interest and the character of comments in the NFPA’s 652 revision process and OSHA’s proposed panel could significantly shape discussions on - and development of - both entities’ combustible dust activities in 2017 and beyond. To read Powder & Bulk Solids' exlusive feature on combustible dust standards in 2016, CLICK HERE.

How to Prevent Industrial FiresUse a three-phase accident investigation process to identify basic causes and take corrective action.

Nov 1, 1996 EHS Today StaffFires and explosions needlessly kill and injure employees and damage billions of dollars worth of property and goods every year. Here are steps you can take to keep your business from going up in smoke.

William Fries admits he was shocked. Fries, director, property services, Loss Prevention Department, Liberty Mutual Group, thought he had seen and heard it all during his time with the company, but this was a new one.

During a routine inspection, he asked a safety director at a pulp and paper mill if it had a frequency problem with fires. He was relieved to hear that the company had never had a big fire.

His happiness was short-lived as the safety director went on to explain that once a week, a certain machine would cause a dust explosion, …

NFPA 652 - Dust Hazard AnalysisJoin DEKRA Insight’s David Kaelin for an insightful look into NFPA
652. This webinar will provide management and supervisors with the
insight necessary to complete a dust hazard analysis and identify those
areas within the equipment, operations, processes, and activities that
could lead to dust explosions.View the webinar - presented by David Kaelin
Auditing: The Importance of Being Effective and Efficient with Your Audit Management

This webinar discusses the impact effective audit management has on
safety functioning. We share practical tools and knowledge that you can
apply in your organization. View the webinar
Requirements for a Robust Basis of Safety

This webinar outlines the generic procedure to ensure that safety
measures are reliably specified and that adequate process safety data is
available on which the Basis of Safety is found…

The new standard sets out to be the single, go-to source for handling combustible dusts, no matter what industry you’re in, or where you live in the world.

The National Fire Protection Agency (NFPA) announced the standard’s release at the American Industrial Hygiene conference and exposition (AIHce) on May 25, 2016 after its approval on September 7, 2015.

The NFPA published the new standard as an answer to a lack of understanding of what combustible dust hazards are, and to smooth out some inconsistent guidelines in their existing commodity-specific
standards.

The new standards apply to all logistics and facilities involved with handling or producing combustible dusts and combustible particulate solids. They give straightforward guidelines on when to use co…

Author(s): Guy Colonna.
Published on March 2, 2015.
PREPARING A NEW NFPA STANDARD
requires a mixture of ingredients, some provided by the public and the
technical committee, others provided by NFPA staff. The aim is that, in
the end, we have developed a meaningful document that benefits the
targeted occupancy or addresses a particular hazard. The path to
completion can sometimes be unusual, as was the case with the new NFPA 652, Fundamentals of Combustible Dust, which is due to be issued this summer.

To ensure that certain deadlines were
met, NFPA’s editorial team resorted to humor to catch my attention. I
love soccer, and was fortunate to spend time in Brazil last summer at
the FIFA World Cup, where I followed the progress of the U.S. side
through the so-called “group of death.” When I returned to work, one of
the tasks at the…

Purdue University Extension is offering three workshops
this summer on the prevention of grain dust combustion and explosions
for workers at grain handling facilities.

Funded by a grant from the US Department of Labor's Occupational
Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), the sessions will focus on
handling and unloading grain, engineering controls, and industrial
hazards. Participants will also observe a demonstration of a grain dust
explosion. Those who successfully complete the workshops are awarded a
certificate.

"On average, there are 10 grain dust explosions every year in the
United States, causing damage, injury, and death," said Kingsley
Ambrose, assistant professor in Purdue's department of agricultural and
biological engineering. "Our goal is to raise awareness of the perils of
grain dust explosion and reduce this number."

US combustible dust standard now in place
31 May 2016 According
to OHS Online, the US National Fire Protection Association’s new
combustible dust standard, NFPA 652, Standard on the Fundamentals of
Combustible Dust, is now in effect. It is the latest in a series of NFPA
standards that apply to combustible dusts after 61, 484, 654, 655, and
664, and includes the important new requirement of dust hazard analysis.
This
was announced at the American Industrial Hygiene Conference &
Exposition (AIHce) 2016 event in Baltimore, OHS Online reported. Susan
Berhad, the NFPA staff liaison for the combustible dust project, made
the announcement during a May 25 presentation on the standard at the
event.

The 652 standard sets out three fundamental principles:
controlling the fuel, controlling the ignition sources, and limiting the
spread of any combustion event.

Redesigning facilities is not
retroactive under the standard, Berhad said. But management of change,
employee training, an…